they have a bunch of former jpl employees on staff. host: kelly from massachusetts on our independent line. caller: you said you are giving companies $1.1 billion. why are we giving them money to reinvent the wheel? we already have the technology to get into space. why aren't we sharing the technology? guest: the companies are using nasa's technology to get into space. the space shuttle was an incredibly capable vehicle, but was not a cheap vehicle. it had a lot capabilities that we did not need. it was a vehicle that was good for lower earth orbits. they build two capabilities to replace it. the other is to go beyond lower earth orbit, but we did do with the apollo program. the space shuttle was a very high-tech vehicle but it wasn't the right vehicle for where we're going now. host: here are some numbers from 2011, looking at contract awards that were given how. host: these funds were given to companies. a question from monty on twitter. guest: the commercial applications can seem far- fetched. if you can find water, water can be tur